Prior art equipment for producing repetitive simple angle cuts on lumber components used to construct roof trusses and the like is known. Such equipment used for commercial production of such lumber components is typified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,400, issued Feb. 23, 1982 to Mayo and other patents. These prior art machines do not have the capability of making compound angle cuts on lumber components necessary for producing hip, valley and jack rafters, and it is the principal object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for this important purpose on a production basis. No known equipment is presently available for producing the compound angle cuts required to make hip, valley and jack rafters with precision and uniformity on a mass production basis, and the present invention seeks to satisfy this need in a practical, sturdy and comparatively simple and economical apparatus.
Another object of the invention is to provide a production cutting apparatus for hip, valley and jack rafters which is compatible with the apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,400 and can be used on the patented apparatus, or can be used separately therefrom in a completely self-contained embodiment.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a power saw apparatus for making compound angle cuts on lumber components, in conjunction with a component conveyor which advances the lumber components in a stop and go mode to and away from the saw cutting position, the conveyor having overrunning clutch means in its drive system which enables it to operate continuously, if desired, as well as intermittently.
An additional object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the above-mentioned character possessing all of the required adjustments to accurately position the saw blade relative to the lumber components being cut by the saw blade in its two modes of use for making compound angle cuts or square cuts, and also having means to lock the sector gear against movement relative to a slide plate of the apparatus to avoid inaccurate cutting of lumber components due to clearances in the pantograph linkage.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art during the course of the following description.